The invention relates to a security apparatus, and more particularly, relates to a security apparatus for realizing prevention of theft of a vehicle.
There is such a trend that the number of occurrence of events such as theft of a vehicle and breaking into a vehicle is increasing, which has become a social problem. On this account, in these years, in order to prevent theft of a vehicle, various kinds of security apparatuses have been proposed.
The security apparatus is configured to carry out setting and releasing a security mode for watching out for vehicle theft, and to generate an alarm sound to show a threat behavior against a thief and to notify surrounding people, when opening/closing of a door by unfair means and illegal break-in are detected.
Also, it is desirable that the setting and releasing this security mode are interlocked with lock control of a door on the occasion that a legitimate driver gets on and off a vehicle. Therefore, there are many security apparatuses, which are designed to operate in cooperation with a keyless entry system in which lock control of a door is carried out by a remote operation.
FIG. 14 is a block diagram for schematically showing a main part of a security system in which a conventional security apparatus is employed. In the figure, reference numeral 1 designates a receiver control device. The receiver control device 1 includes a control circuit 2, an EEPROM 3, a receiving circuit 4, and an antenna 5. The EEPROM 3 stores an ID code, which is set to each vehicle. The receiving circuit 4 receives a signal (e.g., a signal including an ID code, a door lock instruction code, or a door unlock instruction code), which is transmitted from a portable transmitter 6, which a legitimate driver should take along, and an antenna 5. The control circuit 2 is connected to a door-lock control device 7 for carrying out lock control of a door through a signal line L1.
When the control circuit 2 receives a signal, which is transmitted from outside through the antenna 5 and the receiving circuit 4, the control circuit 2 judges whether or not a code included in the received signal coincides with an ID code, which has been stored in the EEPROM 3. When the control circuit 2 judges that these codes coincide with each other, the control circuit 2 supplies an instruction code included in the received signal (or a code which is generated on the basis of the instruction code) to the signal line L1 so that the instruction code is to be transmitted to the door-lock control device 7. That is, when the control circuit 2 receives a lock instruction or unlock instruction of a door by a remote operation from the portable transmitter 6, which a legitimate driver should take along, the control circuit 2 is designed to follow those instructions.
When the door-lock control device 7 receives the lock instruction code under such a circumstance that all doors are closed, the door-lock control device 7 energizes a door lock motor such that a current passes through the door lock motor 8 in a direction of an arrow A thereby making all doors be in a lock state while the door-lock control device 7 transmits a set instruction code for setting a security mode to the security apparatus 11 through a signal line L2. In addition, it is possible to carry out judgment of whether or not all doors are closed on the basis of a signal, which can be obtained from a door courtesy switch 9.
Also, when the door-lock control device 7 receives the unlock instruction code transmitted from the receiver control device 1, the door-lock control device 7 energizes the door lock motor 8 to flow a current through the door lock motor 8 in a direction of an arrow B thereby making all doors be in an unlock state and transmits an unset instruction code for releasing the security mode to the security apparatus 11 through the signal line L2.
The security apparatus 11 sets or releases a security mode on the basis of the instruction code transmitted from the door-lock control device 7. In this manner, setting and releasing the security mode is carried out in the form of interlocking with lock control of a door.
Also, a door lock switch 12 and a intruder detection sensor 13 are connected to the security apparatus 11. The door lock switch 12 detects which of lock/unlock states a door lock mechanism is in. The intruder detection sensor 13 detects a person who intrudes into inside of a vehicle. When a door is locked or an intruder is detected under such a circumstance that the security mode is set, an alarm sound generation device 14 is controlled to generate an alarm sound.
JP-A-10-181533 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,043,752)
As described above, the conventional security apparatus 11 sets and releases the security mode on the basis of the set instruction code and the unset instruction code which are transmitted from the door-lock control device 7. However, in order to realize this, the door-lock control device 7 must transmit these instruction codes to the security apparatus 11. That is, there is a necessity that the door-lock control device 7 is functionally interlocked with the security apparatus 11.
However, there are many cases that the security apparatus is mounted at a later time. There are few cases that the door-lock control device 7, which is mounted on a vehicle as a standard equipment, is manufactured to be functionally interlocked with the security apparatus 11. Also, even if the door-lock control device 7 is one, which is manufactured to be functionally interlocked with the security apparatus 11, it is simply manufactured so as to correspond to the security apparatus 11, which is manufactured by a certain specific manufacturer.
On that account, in case of mounting a security apparatus manufactured by other manufacturer than the specific manufacturer on a vehicle, for example, as shown in FIG. 15, it is necessity to provide the following configuration. A portable transmitter 26, which is separated from one for a door lock and is dedicated to a security apparatus 21 is provided. Also, it is necessary to perform setting and releasing the security mode on the basis of a signal transmitted from the portable transmitter 26 to the security apparatus 21.
With this configuration, the security apparatus manufactured by the other manufacturers than the specific manufacturer can be mounted on a vehicle. However, as a matter of course, there occurs a necessity of the portable transmitter 26, which is separated from one for a door lock, and it is necessary to provide an antenna 22 and a receiving circuit (not shown) so as to be able to receive a signal transmitted from the portable transmitter 26. Therefore, there is such a problem that a serious cost increase occurs.
Also, since the security apparatus 21 is not designed to interlock with lock control of a door, when a driver gets on a vehicle, it is necessary for the driver to release the security mode by using the portable transmitter 26 and then to release lock of a door by using the portable transmitter 6. This is because if an order of these operations is reversed, lock of a door is to be released before the security mode is released (i.e., the security mode is still being set) so that an alarm sound is generated.
As described above, there is such a problem that to provide the portable transmitter 26 separated from one for a door lock and is dedicated to the security apparatus 21 causes not only cost increase but alto very bad usability to a user.